A massive manhunt is underway in the mountainous Stumptown Road area west of Anaconda for Michael Paul Brown, a 45-year-old Army veteran suspected of killing four people at The Owl Bar on Friday morning. The Montana Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), leading the probe, confirmed the 10:30 AM shooting left a bartender and three patrons dead. Brown, described as “armed and extremely dangerous,” fled in a 2007 white Ford F-150 (Montana plates DTY493), which was later found abandoned, DCI Administrator Lee Johnson said at a Friday night briefing.
Brown, who lived next to the bar, served as an armor crewman in the US Army (2001-2005), including a deployment to Iraq (2004-2005), and in the Montana National Guard (2006-2009), retiring as a sergeant. His niece, Clare Boyle, revealed Brown’s long struggle with mental illness, describing him as often disoriented and in need of help that family efforts failed to secure. “This isn’t just a man gone wild; it’s a sick man who doesn’t always know who or where he is,” she told the AP.
Bar owner David Gwerder, absent during the attack, said Brown knew all the victims and had no known disputes with them, suggesting he “just snapped.” The victims’ identities are withheld pending family notifications. The shooting, one of 256 mass shootings in the US in 2025 per the Gun Violence Archive, prompted a town-wide lockdown, with businesses like Firefly Café shuttering and residents urged to stay indoors.
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Over a dozen officers, supported by the FBI, ATF, SWAT, helicopters, drones, and K9 units, are scouring the rugged terrain. Brown, last seen wearing a tie-dyed shirt, blue jeans, and an orange bandana, remains at large, with authorities warning residents to avoid contact and call 911 if sighted. Governor Greg Gianforte is monitoring the situation, urging prayers for the victims. The incident has rattled Anaconda, a historic copper town of 9,000, with locals like café owner Barbie Nelson noting, “We’re Montanans, so guns aren’t new, but this lockdown has everyone rattled.”
Also Read: Montana Town on Lockdown After Deadly Bar Shooting Sparks Manhunt